Opponents have wondered how to stop Feeney from getting to the hoop, which he can seemingly do at will, so they decide to collapse their defense on him. That leaves Devlin, a knock- down 3-point shooter, open from deep.

If they don’t collapse, Feeney will use his deadly spin move to get a lay- in or draw a foul and get to the line.

This has now been going on for eight, long, excruciating years for op posing teams.

“We have a lot of chemistry,” said Devlin. “He takes it to the rack really well and then if he can draw my man then I get an open shot. We’ll take that all day, too.

“Since fifth grade that’s how we’ve been running our offense.”

Even worse for opposing coaches, they have taken pieces from each oth er’s games to become more all- around players.

“Their strengths complement each other really well,” said coach Bob Rodgers. “Brian’s ability to get to the hole, Shane’s ability to go ahead and shoot it. But flipping that around, Shane can get to the hole now, Shane can play defense now. Brian Feeney can shoot it. So they’ve kind of taken their game and kind of made it a little bit more complete.”

Devlin not only had to improve his all-around game, but he also had to shake his label that he was just a 3- point shooter.

“I would always say it to him,” said Rodgers. “I would always say it to make sure that he knew that that’s what people think, that’s all you can do.”

Said Devlin: “At the beginning of high school I was mainly just a 3- point shooter, but I’ve just been working on my quickness and my overall athleticism. I think that’s been helping out my game a lot.

“When people are saying that you’re just a shooter, you want to work on your game so you can prove them wrong and be able to go to the hoop and play great defense.”

Feeney had to improve his shoot ing, and like most young point guards, his aggressiveness.

“I wasn’t really a good shooter when I came. I’m still working on it,” said Feeney. “I’ve become more of a scorer. As a freshman I was more of a distributor. I still like to get everyone the ball.”

Rodgers knew from an early age how good Devlin and Feeney could be.

“They’ve been coming to my camp since they were little kids,” said Rodgers. “I’ve known them for a long time and I knew they were spe cial kids.”

Next year, Feeney will attend Salem State and play basketball.

Devlin and Feeney have taken turns leading the Panthers in scoring all season.

“If they played for a different team, they would’ve scored 1,000 points,” said Rodgers, “but because they play with absolute selflessness and their biggest priority is how the team does.”

Devlin and Feeney will lead the Panthers on their final tournament run, starting with a matchup against Oliver Ames at home at 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday.

“We’re trying to make it all the way,” said Devlin. “These last couple of years we’ve been one-and-done in the tournament, but I think we have a special team this year.”

Chris McDaniel can be reached at CMcDaniel@enterprisenews.com and followed on Twitter @ChrisMc Daniel88 for all tournament scores and information.